Time and money are running out on the US-directed reconstruction effort in Iraq.

The main conduit for American rebuilding aid – the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) – is scheduled to close at the end of this year.

Almost all the cash Congress has allocated for the fund, some $20 billion in all, has been spent, or will be, in coming months.

Yet many important efforts remain unfinished, for reasons ranging from insurgent attacks to incompetence and contractor corruption. More than 75 percent of oil and gas restoration projects are incomplete, as are 50 percent of electrical and 40 percent of water and sanitation projects, according to the April report of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

The bottom line: Iraqis are facing what US officials call a "reconstruction gap" as they assume responsibility for rebuilding. Meeting already-identified needs might require a further $18 billion to $28 billion, according to one estimate.

Domestic Iraqi resources, and aid from countries other than the US, might help close this gap. But some experts say that additional US funds – beyond what's currently planned – might be needed, or crucial goals could remain unmet.

"You don't want to be penny-wise and pound-foolish here," says Steven Kosiak, director of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, it took control of a nation with a ruined economy and infrastructure. In the 1970s, Iraq's per-capita income was close to that of Spain. Since then it has dropped to that of a sub-Saharan African nation.

In an effort to jump-start economic activity and civic life, US reconstruction efforts have encompassed much more than the rebuilding of infrastructure ruined by war. More than 3,000 schools have been constructed with US funds, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers. US officials have tried to rescue Iraqi agriculture, such as a date palm industry that deteriorated during the years of Saddam Hussein.

But the general course of reconstruction has not been smooth. Insurgent and factional violence has hobbled rebuilding, as it has the country as a whole.

Between 16 and 22 percent of reconstruction dollars pay for armed guards and other costs related to security, James Kunder, an assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development, told the House International Relations Committee at a hearing last week.

Fraud and abuse have also been problems. Stuart Bowen Jr., the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), has 72 open investigations into allegations of corruption, according to his latest quarterly report to Congress.

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